AC Locksmiths prices change coming

Here at AC Locksmiths Norfolk, it has always been my aim to provide quality work with fair pricing. We are still the only company in the area to give prices on our website so you can know before you even call what prices are likely to be. Regular customers will know that I have never charged for a second visit if I do not have what you need on board at first contact, and if you call me to do a second job within 6 months, I have been doing these jobs labour free where possible. My other desire was always to keep AC Locksmiths prices the same whether you call me out at 2pm on a Monday, or 2am on Bank Holiday weekend. I have been able to keep this going for twelve years, but unfortunately, to stay in business and to stay competitive, changes have to be made.

My AC Locksmiths prices will always be displayed on the website, so that you the customer, will know I am honest about what I charge. While my profit margin remains low, extra cost of materials leading to increased prices will push me over the VAT threshold and prices displayed will not include the VAT price, so when that is applicable I will make that clear in my pricing list.

While I am no longer able to do second visits for free in all cases, they will still be free if the item I am missing is a basic everyday lock. In all other cases, repeat visits will be charged at a half labour rate, and separate jobs will incur the full labour rate regardless of time in between visits.

Between the hours of 7am and 7pm Mon – Fri, my rates for the new financial year will remain the same as before. But evenings, weekends and bank holidays will see an increase to £95. This is a flat fee for emergency work and will apply if the job takes five minutes or five hours. For non-emergency work, the cost will be £75 for a single lock change/short job, £150 for a half day, and £250 for a full days’ work. All large value jobs will require a 50% deposit.

Despite these changes, I will still continue to help advise my customers on lock and mechanism maintenance to help the locks last longer, I will still tell you if there is a way to do the job yourself when you call me. I will still not charge you if you call me out when you actually need a door fitter instead.

I will still offer a comprehensive range of services, including all below and more:

  • Gain entry
  • Lock fitting
  • Lock upgrades
  • Alarm fitting
  • Internal CCTV
  • Smart locks
  • Vehicle entry
  • Empty home management (look after your 2nd home/look after home after death of a relative, etc)
  • House clearance
  • Repeat maintenance

Find our full price list here: https://www.ac-locksmiths-norfolk.co.uk/prices-2024/

Thanks for reading, Alan

admin March 1, 2023

Lock maintenance / Pricing changes /

Auto Locksmith FAQ’s

Auto locksmith FAQ’s:

Car locksmith

Do I have to bring my car to you?

No. A car locksmith has all the tools needed to cut your new car key and the computers to do the programming on board his/her van. Recently I made a new Fiat Ducatto key for a customer in Gresham village. I was able to copy his existing key in my van and then plug into his onboard computer via the OBD port and program his new key to the vehicle. This meant he could use his vehicle the same day. Had he taken the key to the dealer or manufacturer, he would have had to leave it with them, possibly waiting weeks without the use of his own vehicle.

Does the locksmith change the locks on my car?

No, if you lose your keys, we will only make new ones, but they will be coded differently, so the old keys will be useless for driving your car away. Unless you leave valuables in your car, this should not be a problem. If you want to change the actual locks on your vehicle, you should, in most cases, go back to the manufacturer. If you have had your locks modified or changed in any way, you must inform the vehicle locksmith if you later require his help. I remember being called out to a Jeep in Brancaster late at night. It was parked in a very quiet beach car park. When I tried, my Jeep lockpick, I found the whole thing felt wrong and asked the customer if anything had been changed, at which point he told me the vehicle locks had been changed for aftermarket products. This meant I was unable to do the job without damaging the vehicle, so alternative arrangements had to be made (they paid me plus an expensive taxi home to get the spare).

How much does a car locksmith cost?

This is like asking how long a ball of string is. Unlike house locks and keys, auto locksmithing has many components. And the cost will be based on how many of those components you need. Will I need to pick the lock? Will I need to work out the key shape from the lock? Will I need to access a database that charges me for certain codes to allow me to program the new key to your car? Can I use aftermarket products or do I have to use genuine branded parts? How far did I have to travel to get to you? Does coding your key require me to a plugin, or do I have to take half of your dashboard apart to get to the chip that I then have to remove, code and return? These and many more factors make up the cost, but in nearly all cases the auto locksmith can sort your problem on the day and will be cheaper than going back to the manufacturer. For example, I produced a key for a customer with a Renault Clio in Fakenham and saved them £300 on the price they were quoted by the dealership. What’s more, it was all done at the customer’s place of work, allowing them to get on with their day.

Will the locksmiths make keys for my old classic car?

To be honest, no. Cobblers and engravers can usually copy the keys of older cars and motorbikes. If not, you may have to change the locks and ignition barrels, in which case scrap dealers are always a good call. But for the auto locksmith, we can only make a profit on keys with computer chips. Travelling to Dereham from my home town of Holt to produce a key for an old Ford Capri is not even going to pay for the cost of the round journey, whereas making and coding a key for a 2015 Ford Mondeo will work for me. A very few auto locksmiths might just be able to produce older keys, but often the cost would be more than the value of the vehicle itself.

Can the auto locksmith make keys for all modern cars?

No. We can make keys for most car brands and models, and there are very few we cannot get into if your keys are locked inside, but there are a few when we have to tell you to go back to the dealer. Land Rover Discoveries and Volvos spring to mind. There just isn’t the data available for us to do our computer work on these vehicles. You might see websites advertising that they can indeed clone your key when the locksmith says he cannot, but these sites include every vehicle in their menus just to drive traffic to their sites. When you actually ring, they are just as powerless as the car locksmith.

What is the most common reason for an auto locksmith call out?

By far it is keys locked in the boot. When you are loading/unloading your vehicle, unlock all the doors. So many people only unlock the boot. They then put the keys down inside the boot, load the shopping, the golf clubs, the tools, etc, and then slam the boot down and swear in the next five seconds when they realise the keys are now in the back and they are locked out. There is no security benefit to only unlocking your boot if you are only going to lock yourself out of your car in a high crime area.

Does my breakdown cover include the cost of an auto locksmith?

No. Some recovery drivers will make a quick attempt for you, but I have been called many times by the biggest recovery service in the UK and I am a registered peripheral of the second largest. In all cases, I charge the customer direct. From Cromer, Fakenham, to Burnham Overy Staithe, call me first and save time. You don’t want to wait hours for the recovery service only to be told you have to wait even longer for me.

Can you make me a new car key if I have lost all the original ones?

Yes, I can read the lock using a special tool or get the information for many vehicles from your registration document, providing I have proof of ownership. Once I have cut the key blade, I can then let my computer talk to your car and program the new key to your vehicle. It is a much faster job copy from an existing key, though.

What is cloning?

Cloning is simply replicating an existing key. As far as the car computer is concerned, it believes there is only one key when you may have two or even more. You can clone some keys without having to plug into the car. This is a cheaper way to replace lost keys, but it does not protect you from those lost keys being used should someone else find them and want to steal your car. Making new keys that are uniquely programmed to your vehicle gives you the option of deleting the old keys, in exactly the same way you would put a stop on a lost credit card.

How do you get into my car if there is no keyhole?

There is always a keyhole. On modern cars, the keyhole is covered and the key is hidden in the key fob. But for safety, there must be mechanical access. A customer of mine in Norwich was astounded when I turned up to get him into his vehicle. His fob battery was flat and he could not get in. So I showed him the hidden key blade and then revealed the hidden keyhole on the vehicle. Had he listened to the dealer (if the dealer had even told him), or read the car paperwork, he could have made his meeting that day because the car will still work when the fob battery is dead. The customer was still happy though as he had expected a very expensive job. It was still expensive for a battery change he could have done himself.

How long does it take to pick the lock?

Seconds – hours depending on the vehicle, age, possible rust/damage inside the lock. I’ve taken two hours to open a car in Hunstanton and one and a half minutes to open a car in Beeston. Conditions like cold and rain might also slow me down. It takes as long as it takes.

How easy is it for thieves to hack the signal and steal my car?

Thieves that do this have bought special equipment. They are stealing cars to order. While not impossible, it is not likely for those of us with standard cars to have our signals stolen. You can, if you wish to, buy signal jamming pouches and I am happy to source them for you. But the biggest growing way for cars to be stolen is via your home letterbox. I see it all the time. People come home and put their keys on a table or other piece of furniture near the door so they can easily pick those keys up as they leave. Thieves are now fishing through the letterbox to get keys which can give them access to your home and they can use your own car as a getaway vehicle. Don’t make it easy for them.

If you would like more information on the above questions or have others to ask, please get in contact via any of the methods on my contacts page.

Thanks for reading!

admin December 16, 2019

auto locksmith / Car locksmith / Car thieves / Cloning car keys /

AC Locksmiths putting the customer first

When I started up working for myself as a locksmith in 2009, I hadn’t dreamed it would be such a rewarding job. I’ve lost count of the number of times people have told me I have saved their life or that I am their hero. Only this week I was called to a flat in Fakenham where a toddler had pushed shut a door on his Mum, locking her out and him in at the bottom of a flight of stairs. The potential for disaster was very high, but I was able to get to that customer in less than half an hour and gained entry soon after arrival. Being able to do things like that are reward enough for the cost of my training.

AC Locksmiths

I believe I am still the only locksmith in Norfolk to advertise prices, so my customers know exactly what will be charged and what they are getting for that price. I don’t charge any more money for working unsociable hours. You pay the same for a normal Tuesday morning as you do for a Bank Holiday Monday. On kite marked products, I offer a longer guarantee than any of my competitors (if they offer any guarantee at all), which runs right up to the industry recommendation for regular lock changes.

I do everything I can to keep my prices as low as possible for my customers, like running a second hand vehicle over a new one. But unfortunately, I cannot continue to offer the same rates that I have stuck to for the last two financial years. My suppliers have used Brexit as an excuse to raise the prices of the locks I fit, and Norfolk has too sparse a population to keep me busy all the time. While I want to continue to be a knight in shining armour to those who need me when they are locked out on a cold, wet night, I want to offer a full locksmith service to motorists as well, once again advertising prices and being competitive. I also want to offer bespoke alarm systems and CCTV solutions to my residential and commercial customers.

It will therefore be necessary to increase my prices at the start of the new financial year. I have looked at different ways of doing this. I could pass on the increase in the price I pay for stock, or I could be like my competitors and charge nearly double for Sundays and bank Holidays along with somewhere in between for evenings. I could charge by the hour rather than have a flat fee for all jobs. But I like simple.

My flat rate for all jobs will increase from £50 to £60, regardless of whether the job takes five minutes or five hours. This price still beats the Nationals. It will not go up for evenings or weekends or bank holidays. You will still not have to pay VAT. The locking products will remain the same price they have been for over three years, and while I cannot compete with large DIY store chains on price, I can compete with them on knowledge of brands that are good enough for me to guarantee for much longer than their one year. The only difference to my flat rate pricing will be to multi-lock upgrade jobs where the price will be per half day (or uncompleted part of a half day – i.e. a job lasting from 9.00am to 12.00 noon will be £60, while a job from 9.00am to 2.00pm will be £120). A am also unable to offer my customers a free second visit. Many have benefited in the past when they have wanted additional work done to different locks. This is simply no longer affordable.

However, I will now be signing the back of my business cards and anyone who presents a signed card as a recommendation from another customer will have their job discounted back to £50. Security checks are still free with no obligation to take up my quotation for any works carried out.

Norfolk is still a relatively safe place with regards to burglaries, but they do happen. It is still my aim for my customers to have the best possible security at fair prices from a friendly professional.

If you have any questions regarding the above or any of my other topics, please get in touch through any of the methods on my contacts page.

Thanks for reading.

admin February 18, 2017

Locksmiths prices /

Locksmith Pricing

What are you paying for with your local locksmith?

A C Locksmiths Norfolk
I have recently had a couple of customers who have questioned the prices I charge for my work. With that in mind, I felt it might be important to explain why some things can seem expensive.

I’m sure none of my customers begrudge me making a profit, but I also understand that it might feel like you are being overcharged if the product I supply you is more expensive than you can buy elsewhere. Therefore, I want to break down the cost as a policy of openness and fairness for my customers. It’s worth pointing out here, that to my knowledge I am still the only locksmith in the area willing to put prices on my website.

If we take a British Standard 5 lever mortice sash lock, I know that on the day of writing this, I can go to the two main DIY superstores and pick up the same product with a ten pounds price difference. Same brand, same product code, but one charges ten pounds more. I can then go to a local DIY store and get a similar product, with a lesser known brand name, but for twenty pounds more than the highest of the two big chain stores. As a specialist, I supply a product that I know is better than those you can get in any of these shops, even though the chain stores use a well-known brand name. And yes, my price is slightly higher than the local DIY shop.  The big shops have huge buying power. They can get incredible discounts through bulk orders, brand exclusivity and offsetting profits and loss against other products in store. If they couldn’t do that, their prices would have to be closer to the local store. To maximise his profit, the local store owner has to purchase generally cheaper products and still charge a lot more than the chain stores. I run my business from a van. I cannot keep huge quantities of stock and have to go through a dedicated supplier to get my parts, who also wants to make a profit. I could charge less and supply poor quality products, but I want my customers to recommend me to their friends and therefore I have to supply market leading products.

There is another way to get your locks, though. You can get branded products online much cheaper even than the chain stores. Internet businesses are springing up all over the place. These people can really undercut the rest. They get your orders shipped straight from the supplier, so they have no storage costs. They don’t have vehicle costs or virtually any overheads at all so they can really drive the price down. But you really need to know what you are looking for. Is your mortice sash lock a 2.5 inch or a 3 inch model? If you are changing brand, is the new one going to fit in place of the old one, or are you going to have to do some chisel work to fit it? What you save in cash with these people, you might well find you are suddenly spending in new tools, time and effort to fit your new lock. And all the time you may be sweating and your partner looking over your shoulder, telling you that you should have simply called a locksmith! And that’s after you have waited a day or two for the part to even arrive. Did they include VAT in the head line price? Is shipping twice the price of the actual lock once you have clicked through too many pages to be bothered to cancel the order?

All this means that the price I charge you covers my own purchase of the part (at a higher rate than the chain stores), the storage of many less regularly needed items just in case something needs to be replaced on a bank holiday (for example) and there is going to be no way to get a replacement, the peace of mind that the product I supply is of top quality and won’t break in a month, the peace of mind that if something does go wrong with my supplied product within the guarantee period, that I will be able to replace it for you without any fuss or demands of extra money and in most instances, gives me the ability to have the part you want when you want it, or at least a temporary fix until I can get the required part.

The other payment I ask you for is my labour, It’s fixed at £50.00 and has been for the previous two years. That means morning, noon or night, you pay me £50.00 whether  I take five minutes or five hours. I don’t charge more for weekends or bank holidays, I don’t charge more if I don’t have what you need on board and have to come out a second time and I don’t charge for security checks.   It’s simple and easy;  Considering that when you factor in that my average travel time to a job is around 30 mins (1 hour round trip), and that my labour fee also covers replacement of worn out tools, fuel and car maintenance, there is very little actual profit from this fee.

All this means that yes, I do turn a profit. But I believe my profit is fair. I am happy to break down the costs of every job with my customers if they desire.

Should you have any questions regarding the above or any of my other blogs, please feel free to get in touch via any of the methods on my contacts page.

Thanks for reading.

admin June 14, 2016

What are you paying for with your local locksmith? / Why get a professional locksmith? /

Locksmith Prices Norfolk

Transparency of Prices

AC Locksmiths is committed to giving its customers the best service possible at the best possible price, but I am sometimes asked why locking products can be expensive when compared to the shops, and why locksmiths’ prices vary so much. So, in the interest of full transparency, I will do my best to explain and give you, the customer an informed choice as to which locksmith you should use.

In research for this blog, I have been unable to find one single other locksmith brave enough to advertise a labour rate. This is because they change their rates depending on time of day, day of the week, bank holidays, etc. My rate is a flat cost of £50. I do advertise this as an hourly rate, but have never charged beyond the first hour, so whether I am at your house for five minutes or five hours, the cost is the same. £50 may seem like a lot of money if I am only with you for a short time to get you into your home, but when you take into consideration my fuel and car running costs, time to get to and from your property, advertising, web site running, and all the other little costs that are needed to run a small business, I can promise you there is very little actual profit margin. But to charge more would bring me too close to the competition and I want to be able to give my customers value for money.

But what about the locks?  Yes, like all locksmiths I make profit on these, but again not as much as you might think. Sometimes my products are twice as expensive as what you might pay in a DIY store but there are reasons for this. Big name stores have the buying power to buy their items in bulk, gaining them huge discounts. They can also spread their profits across all the items in store, so are even able to price some smaller products very low and counter that with a larger profit on a larger item. I, on the other hand, only have the capacity for smaller amounts of stock, meaning I have to take more time to make orders, pay for more delivery fees and pay more myself as I cannot get the large order discounts. So again, my profit margin is not nearly so great, even though I am charging more than the big name shops. You pay more through me because I have to carry stock that I might not need for six months, but I want to have the right lock on hand when you need it wherever possible. But even if I don’t have what you need on board, that is my problem and unlike some locksmiths, I won’t charge a second time when I return with the correct parts.

I also use the best quality products I can. After all, I give all my customers a guarantee of my work and do not want to be called back against that guarantee. I am also happy for you to source your own locks for me to fit. My running costs come out of my labour, so my customers are more than welcome to provide their own locks for me to fit.

Another query came from an estate agent who asked about a difference in price from a lock I supplied and the one he found on line. The door in question was upvc. Readers of my previous blogs will know I am trying to educate my readers and customers to the fact that most upvc door locks do not meet insurance standards as they are not BS3621 rated. If I replace one of these for a customer, I give them a choice of replacing like for like or upgrading to the insurance standard. But if I come across a kite marked cylinder, I must replace it with another kite marked cylinder because no locksmith worth having would downgrade any customer’s security. So when I replaced a like for like BS3621 rated cylinder, the estate agent looking after the property questioned the cost as he had found a cylinder on line for a fraction of the cost. Needless to say I looked up the lock the estate agent found and discovered it to be a brand I had never heard of and only of standard non-insurance rating, therefore the comparison was a waste of time. When you use a tradesman, part of the cost goes into the expertise of knowledge. I know that my insurance rated cylinders for upvc doors are better than the ones you can buy in the DIY superstore and yes, they are more expensive. But I know they will also do a better job of deterring  break ins.

Before I sign off this blog, I want to give one final example of how pricing can vary; I found a product very similar to one of my locks in a well known DIY store recently and it was nearly half the price I charge. This made me question the price I had set. A day later, I happened to be in another well known (but not as popular) DIY store where I found the same product was over £10.00 more than the first DIY store. That’s more than £10 difference between two big name companies. Now either one is simply overcharging, or the other is off setting losses against other profits because the lock was branded the same and would have come from the same supplier. Less than a week later, I happened to be in a more localised DIY and hardware shop where the same product was a lot closer in price to my own. This last shop was still very big and had a huge range of products to offset profits with, and even though still less than my own price, their profit margin was obviously much more.

And so I hope this explains why sometimes, the products I have on board may be more expensive than similar ones you can buy in the shops. The prices I set are as fair as I can possibly make them and I am not scared to advertise my prices as I believe an honest pricing system backed up by a friendly, efficient service will, and does, bring in recommendations, repeat custom and happy customers.

Thanks for reading.

admin February 11, 2014

Locksmith prices Norfolk / Locksmiths norfolk /